StubHub plans to ticket, produce its own concerts

NEW YORK (AP) — You can soon buy concert tickets from StubHub for shows produced by StubHub.

The company, which helps brokers and fans buy and sell tickets on its website, announced Wednesday it will sell tickets to concerts that it will produce. It has five shows planned so far featuring "emerging acts" and will launch its first self-produced concert May 18 in Los Angeles.

The performer will be announced next week.

StubHub is getting involved in a business dominated by Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its Ticketmaster subsidiary. AEG is also a big player in concert promotion and ticketing of concerts at its own venues like the Staples Center in Los Angeles through its ticketing arm, AXS.

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Michael Lattig, StubHub's chief marketing officer, said ticketing its own concerts is not a "one-off" project.

"This is about doing something that we can repeat and continue to bring around the country and deliver to fans in as many markets as makes sense," Lattig said.

StubHub, a subsidiary of eBay Inc., was launched in 2000. It is targeting 300- to 600-seat venues for its self-ticketed shows.

Tickets for the May 18 self-produced StubHub show will go on sale next week for $60. The StubHub shows, which will benefit the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, will play in Nashville, Tenn., San Francisco, Chicago and New York.

StubHub is also partnering with Pandora for five free concerts, kicking off April 30 with Tokyo Police Club at Los Angeles' Boulevard 3.

The 10 planned shows are part of "StubHub's Next Stage" concert series.